The present invention relates to an improved safety razor in which the pressure applied to the skin of the user is reduced, resulting in less skin irritation, while at the same time providing an improved shave. This is achieved by maintaining the razor blade in contact with the skin at substantially a constant angle despite retraction of the razor blade support member in response to increased skin pressure upon the razor during shaving.
Safety razors have long been used and its introduction represented a great improvement over the previously available straight razors which were difficult to use and resulted in irritation and cuts to the face of the user. Also, the straight razors had to be repeatedly sharpened, a difficult task. In addition, the great mass of the straight razor as well as its unwieldy size, despite some attempts to reduce both its size and mass, were substantial impediments to preventing severe skin irritation and cuts during shaving.
With the advent of the safety razor, with the replaceable thin blade, many of the disadvantages of the previously available straight razor were eliminated. The safety razor employed a guard upon which the razor blade itself rested. The guard served to push the skin downward, elevating the wisker for preparation for its being cut off by the razor blade supported on top of the guard. At the same time, the guard served to maintain the razor blade away from the skin, provided, however, that the guard and the razor were maintained in proper position in relation to the surface of the skin during shaving.
Despite the great advancement that the safety razor represented over the straight edge razor, it was soon discovered not to be the ultimate in shaving equipment. Inexperienced shavers still had difficulties in maintaining the guard of the razor blade in the proper relationship with the face during shaving. This was particularly true around the ridges of the jaw and over the soft skin of the neck in the area of the larynx.
An additional major disadvantage of the previously available safety razors is that if the person being shaved, such as an invalid, a patient or a customer in a barber shop, is being shaved by someone else, it is extremely difficult to gauge the pressure which is being applied to the surface of the skin. Invariably, the ability to shave such another person requires extended periods of trial and error before the shaving operation is satisfactorily performed.
Further, the previously available safety razors were difficult and dangerous for persons not having adequate motor control of their hand and wrist; for example, older persons whose hands may tremble and jerk during the shaving operation.
In response to these deficiencies a multitude of proposed improvements for instruments for shaving have been promulgated, including, of course, the introduction of the electric razor. The electric razor, which was heralded as the ultimate shaving device, has yet to achieve the unanimous approval of the shaving public. The electric shaver is difficult to use when the face is moist, is not readily adaptable to the skin and whisker pattern of many users, and represents, comparatively, an expensive investment. Also, the electric shaver uses electric power which many times is unavailable at the locations at which a shave might be desired.
Many of these "improved" devices included means for overcoming the primary remaining disadvantages of the safety razor. The first of these disadvantages, maintaining the guard and blade in a proper relationship to the face, was attempted to be resolved by safety razors as disclosed in the patent to Trippe, U.S. Pat. No. 2,125,135 and Angst, U.S. Pat. No. 1,479,690. Both of these patents represented attempts to maintain the razor blade support head and thus the razor blade in a constant relationship to the surface of the face irrespective of the position of the handle. While such devices did maintain the guard and razor blade in a constant relationship with the face, they did not provide any means for maintaining a constant pressure on the face by the guard and blade during the shaving operation other than, of course, by control of the pressure applied to the handle by the hand and wrist.
The second recognized disadvantage of the standard safety razor was that it still failed to compensate for increased pressure of the guard and the razor on the face during different operations of shaving, so as to have a constant pressure applied to the face. The only means of controlling the pressure on the face was still the application of force applied to the handle by the hand and wrist.
Safety razors embodying the blade pressure control such as disclosed in the patent to Risher, U.S. Pat. No. 3,740,841 required the razor blade to pivot about a fixed point in an arc. Such movement of the razor blade is undesirable in that the angle between the blade and the face changes substantially during the shaving operation, thus exposing more of the guard and less of the razor blade itself to the face during the shaving operation. This will give an uneven shave as the razor support member swings an arc as it is brought across the surface of the face.
Other devices such as the safety razor disclosed in the patent to Sabiers, U.S. Pat. No. 2,059,172 also incorporated pressure responsive means for controlling the pressure of the safety razor upon the face during shaving as well as the positioning of the blade on the face. In the Sabiers safety razor, the razor blade moved in a longitudinal, up and down direction, depending on the pull on the blade as it is drawn across the face. The head was also rotatably mounted in the handle so that the head of the safety razor would lie flush along the surface to be shaved. The device of Sabiers, however, failed to recognize the fact that the pulling of the blade against the face to lift the head was in itself recognition of the undesirable pulling effect of the razor blade and merely stopped the shaving process until the limit of the movement of the handle was reached. By the time that the razor blade had resulted in a pulling motion sufficient to oppose the tension of the spring, the damage would have been done.
In addition, the safety razor of Sabier would not control the horizontal component of the pressure against the surface of the skin and at best would only compensate to a limited extent the vertical component of the pressure applied to the skin during shaving.
Also, previously available pressure responsive safety razors have failed to recognize that different portions of the face require different types of operation. For example, when one is shaving the sideburns, a ridged razor blade is preferable. However, during the shaving of the remainder of the face a pressure responsive razor blade is preferred. None of the previously available safety razors offered such versatility.
Each of the previously proposed safety razors, referred to above, generally involved a number of moving parts which required precise assembly for effective operation. Any such requirement would dramatically increase the price for such a safety razor, and consequently limit its acceptability by the public.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved safety razor which maintains a constant pressure on the face during shaving.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved safety razor which minimizes any possible skin irritation during shaving.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved safety razor which maintains the razor blade in contact with the face during retraction of the razor blade during shaving.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide an improved safety razor which has adjustable means for controlling the amount of pressure applied to the face during shaving.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved safety razor which will extend the life of the razor blade due to the decreased pressure applied against the blade by the face during the shaving operation.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a safety razor which is light weight, compact and simple to control.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide an improved safety razor which may be used safely and accurately by users having imperfect motor control of their hands, particularly older persons.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved safety razor which may be easily and safely used by one person to shave another person, such as an invalid or a person being prepared for an operation.
And still yet a further object of the present invention is to provide an improved safety razor which is inexpensive to manufacture and does not require detailed assembly.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved safety razor which has the capability of being rigid when areas such as the sideburns are trimmed and pressure responsive when being used over the remainder of the face.
Further additional objects of the present invention will become evident upon a study of the appended drawings and the accompanying detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the safety razor.